Page 122 of Highball and Chain

“They’ll kill me,” she said between sobs.

“I won’t let that happen.”

“You don’t get it, Enzo. Not even your family can protect me.” She wiped her nose on her sleeve.

I stood and took a step toward the door. “Very well. If you won’t talk to me, maybe the big guy can get some answers out of you.”

“You said you wouldn’t hurt me!”

I worked to keep my expression neutral, but inside I cringed. If I didn’t calm her down, she’d wake Hildie, and I had zero desire to explain the situation to the woman who’d raised me. “That was when I thought you’d cooperate.”

Tara hung her head. “I’m dead either way.”

“Not if you tell me what I need to know.” I hitched a shoulder. “It’s your choice. Start talking, and I’ll set you up in a new life. Test my patience, and I’ll drop you off at Sophia Abruzzo’s with a note pinned to your shirt telling her you spilled every one of her dirty secrets.”

She mumbled, “You’d help me start over? After everything I’ve done?”

“Yes.” I folded my arms. “Now start talking.”

“Sophia, she threatened my kids if I didn’t do what she asked.”

So much for honor among thieves. I recalled Tara showing me photos of two young children. The oldest couldn’t have been more than four. “Where are they now?”

Shanna stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

Tara’s eyes widened. “With their father, but Sophia knows where he lives. If she thinks I’ve turned on her, she’ll kill them all.”

“Give me the address. I’ll have one of my men take them someplace safe until you can join them.”

Tara glanced between us. “There is nowhere safe.”

“I have access to a fishing cabin down in Terrebonne Parish. It’s not much, but you’d be safe there temporarily.” Shanna knelt beside Tara. Her proximity was too close for my liking, but I’d learned she could take care of herself.

“I guess that could work.” She relayed her ex-husband’s address and slumped in the chair.

“Let me make some calls.” Shanna walked to the door.

Taking her arm, I leaned close enough to whisper, “Tell Marco what’s going on and ask him to get some men over there ASAP.”

She nodded and stepped out.

“How long have you been working for the Abruzzos?”

Tara winced. “Almost two years.”

Her answer stunned me. I’d suspected her association had started when Gabe had stepped up, but two years? My oldest brother and his wife had been murdered around the same time. “What exactly did you do for them?”

Keeping her gaze low, she said, “At first, I called them when any of your family were in the restaurant.”

“Like Joe and Rebecca for instance?”

Fresh tears streamed down her face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what they had planned, or I never would have told them.”

I turned my back to her, so she couldn’t see my expression. Joe and Rebecca had their last meal in my restaurant. Joe had winked and elbowed my side when he’d joked about taking his wife on a date. “After they murdered my brother and his wife, what did they ask you to do?”

---